Belly pain

Well, I’d love to be posting that Eli is doing so much better and that his bowels are working marvelously, but unfortunately that isn’t the case. In fact, things have been seeming to go downhill over the past two days. The belly pain is more constant and today he has started throwing up again. They have really tried everything they can think of to get him over this hump. Mostly by trying to increase his Potassium, keep the NG tube running, staying away from narcotics like Morphine that can slow down his bowels, and keep him walking as much as possible. None of it appears to be working, although the air in his upper intestines is slightly less, it’s still pretty full of air. We did another x-ray tonight and they said that it appears he has another obstruction. It could be a result from swelling or a real true blockage, they don’t know. They think we should have been done with this and home by now, so they are going to give him a suppository tonight to see if that gets things moving so he can get rid of that gas. If that doesn’t work and if an increase in Potassium doesn’t help get his bowels moving, they will probably be considering another surgery. That decision will probably be made in the next 24-48 hours.

Lacey and I are hoping for sooner rather than later because Eli has really been suffering these last few days. At this point, we would even be happy with surgery because something needs to happen. There is only so much “My tummy hurts, daddy” that a guy can hear in a day. Let alone over the past week. It’s amazing to me what a week in “inpatient” can do to an otherwise normal and healthy person. The atmosphere and the routine and the lack of progress can really get to you. I don’t like the idea of being here another week, but we’ll do whatever it takes to fix Eli’s stomach problems. Hot packs on his belly seem to help a little. He has also been hitting fevers during the night, so tylenol and taking blood cultures are a regular thing now at night.

They moved us to a private room today because they are going to do a stool culture. However, that means you go on isolation, which is a pain because you have to wear gowns and such. Also, Eli is supposed to be walking ALOT, so I have to gown him up every time just to leave the room so he can walk. In theory, one of the nurses said we could now bring Isaiah in because we have a private room. We didn’t do that today, but we might try tomorrow. Who knows, the last time we had a private room we still had trouble convincing people to let him in, so we’ll see how it goes.

So prayers for the doctors’ wisdom would be really appreciated because I think they are trying to figure out what else they can do without having to do another surgery, but honestly if surgery is the right answer that’s what we want them to do. Also, for Eli’s pain because he is really very uncomfortable and just wants it to stop hurting. Thanks to everyone for continuing to pray and check in on us.